


Tryna Hide (Tryna Fail)

by midnightmumblings



Category: SB19 (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, M/M, and now i can't sleep, but actually only 4+1, happy jj day, please forgive me it's 1:30 in the morning, so here u go, some tagalog at the end, someone woke me up, this is a silly thing, to our lowkey couple yes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26178037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightmumblings/pseuds/midnightmumblings
Summary: Or, the four times Justin and Josh thought they were so smooth in keeping their relationship on the down low, plus the one time they realized everyone already knew about it.
Relationships: Josh Cullen Santos/Justin De Dios
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Tryna Hide (Tryna Fail)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy JJ Day to all Joshtin shippers out there! Here's my little contribution for the day. Love ya'll, and please continue supporting our ship. 
> 
> Stan SB19 always <3

**1 - Ken**

Keeping their relationship a secret from Ken was going to be rather easy. Or so they thought.

They didn’t think they’d have to tiptoe around Ken. Ken usually kept to himself most of the time, often in his own little world, so when Justin and Josh finally started dating, they didn’t think there was a need to be careful.

Case in point: right now. Ken, Justin, and Josh were sitting in the back of the van, with Sejun and Stell up front. Ken was either fast asleep, or he had zoned out as he looked out the window, airpods in his ears.

They were on their way back from an event. Most of the van’s occupants were fast asleep, and it seemed like only Josh and Justin were wide awake, holding hands as Justin leaned against Josh’s shoulder.

“I’m tired,” Josh murmured, and Justin turned his head to press a soft kiss to his cheek.

“I know, so am I,” the younger replied, yawning and snuggling further against Josh’s side. His movement caused his long legs to accidentally hit Ken’s, who snapped out of his daze and turned to look at them.

Justin peeled himself away from Josh almost instantaneously, and they looked at Ken with wide eyes, waiting for their main dancer to say something.

“Are we there yet?” Ken suddenly asked, and Josh turned to look outside the window.

“Nope,” he replied. “We’re still an hour away, I think. You can go back to sleep, Ken,” he said, and Ken nodded, turning his attention back to the window and zoning out again.

“That was a close one,” Josh murmured. “Maybe let’s not cuddle now.”

“Yeah, agreed,” he replied, sitting straight and simply leaning against Josh’s side. “But cuddles later?”

“I promise, cuddles later.”

* * *

  
  


**2- Stell**

Keeping their relationship a secret from Stell was a little bit more difficult than they realized. Stell was a very outgoing person, and he just had this innate ability to make you share your deepest secrets with him even if you only just met. Stell loves talking to people, and he’s just very comfortable to be around. 

So, Josh and Justin knew they had to take extra care around Stell so as not to spill the details yet about their new and budding relationship.

This was proving difficult during media interviews, especially when they would get asked the generic  _ “who’s your celebrity crush/who would you date”  _ questions.

They’ve learned how to respond to those questions with time and practice: Choose a safe answer, and move on with the next question.

“I remember Josh was just texting someone the other day!” Stell butt in, and Josh couldn’t help the way his eyes widened at the exclamation. He was pretty sure that moment already existed on Twitter with screenshots and timestamps. 

“Oooh,” the interviewer exclaimed with a suggestive wink. “Is our most charismatic member finally on the dating scene?”

Josh suddenly felt himself being put on the spot. In cases like these, he would wish for Justin’s reassuring touch, even if it was just their knees knocking together. But, sadly, they placed him on the opposite side of the couch, far from Josh’s reach.

He couldn’t very well say he wasn’t dating anyone, because that was  _ clearly not true _ , but he couldn’t out him and Justin now, not on national TV.

“Well, technically, does texting somebody count as dating them?” He asked, returning the question. “I was probably texting my mom or my sister.”

“Mhmm, that’s true, texting doesn’t always count as dating,” the interviewer said in agreement, and Josh was about to heave a sigh of relief that he had managed well until Stell spoke up again. 

“But it doesn’t explain why I saw him blushing,” Stell was saying, and Josh was about  _ this  _ close to throwing away almost a decade of friendship in favor of jumping Stell to keep him quiet.

“It was hot that day, sue me,” Josh nearly snapped, hoping that he didn’t give anything away. A glance across the couch allowed him to catch Justin’s gaze, who smiled gratefully at him.

So, people were still none the wiser. Good. 

Well, in hindsight, at least there were some good things that came out of that interview, Josh thought later on their way back. Apparently, he and Justin really needed to polish their answers more to keep their relationship under wraps.

And they had to take even more care around Stell.

* * *

**3 - Sejun**

Keeping their relationship a secret from Sejun was just damn near impossible. Sejun was very intuitive, and he had a freakish sixth sense that Justin was sure could tell they were hiding a relationship. 

And, it wasn’t that Sejun was being controlling. Justin knew it was just in his nature to worry about his group members, especially if they were out late, but this was just ridiculous.

“Where were you two?” Sejun asked them once he and Josh entered the condo they shared.

“We had dinner and watched a movie,  _ pinuno, _ ” Josh replied quickly, shucking his jacket. “It was the last minute-filming, so it ran a little later.”

“And you couldn’t have let us know at least?” Sejun asked, crossing his arms. Justin thought that pose made Sejun look just a teeny bit like his mom, and he bit his cheek to keep himself from saying it out loud lest Sejun actually beat the shit out of him.

“We forgot, we’re sorry,” Justin finally said after a period of silence. “We were just having fun, it kinda slipped our minds.”

“We’re sorry we made you worry,” Josh added. 

Sejun looked torn between yelling at them and letting the whole thing slide. His decision was evident in the way his shoulders sagged, and he ran his fingers through his unruly hair.

“You two were having that much fun, huh? What did you get up to that we couldn’t come with you?” He asked, and both Josh and Justin froze at the question.

Do they say they were on a date? That was true, but they weren’t ready to reveal their relationship yet. They were nearing the month-long mark, and Josh and Justin wanted to make sure that this was actually going to stick before they told anybody about it.

“It was nothing, really,” Justin started to reply, but Josh pinched his butt cheek in alarm. Justin yelped, and Sejun raised an eyebrow at them.

“What Justin was saying is that we just wanted to hang out, just the two of us. With our schedule being this busy nowadays, I realized that he and I have barely hung out since then,” which was a fat lie, Justin thought once Josh stopped talking.

“Oh, I see,” Sejun murmured. “Well, then let’s go to bed then. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

So yeah, Sejun probably had an idea, but until they confirmed it, Josh and Justin were going to stick with the belief that he had no clue. 

And maybe they should come home at a reasonable hour the next time.

* * *

**4 - A’TIN**

Keeping their relationship a secret from A’TIN was just a horrible game of defusing bombs everywhere, if Josh had to compare it to anything.

Their fans were downright ruthless, willing to decipher every action they did during interviews, on social media, and even sharing a goddamn water bottle was something they freaked out over.

They both have tried various tactics to keep the attention off of them - some of which included sticking to other band members when they went on interviews or on stage - and while it worked for a time, it really didn’t help that sometimes, their fans were so just goddamn perceptive, and Josh wondered if they took courses on reading body language because they were just that invested into every single thing they did. 

Like when Justin had his arm around Ken’s shoulders for one photo, but his eyes were so clearly stuck on Josh who was on the other side of the room.

Like when they were seated on opposite sides of the couch, and yet they still found ways to actually get each other’s attention.

Or, like when Josh simply grabbed Justin’s hand on stage because they were about to take a bow, but he held on a little longer than normal.

Their shippers were very perceptive, but also, their shippers were creative. He had to give them that.

He wasn’t going to lie. He and Justin actually liked seeing their little edits, whether they were images or videos, and he even read a few of the AUs around on Twitter. He had to hand it to A’TIN; they were a creative bunch, but they could be downright scary at times.

There were sometimes moments they felt they had been found out, because the tweets they were tagged in were often too close to the truth. The deep-dive analysis their shippers went through was quite amazing to see if it wasn’t actually so terrifying.

Like tweets that had called them “Boyfriends.”

Or tweets that analyzed the millisecond (okay it was more than a millisecond, maybe five) of eye contact he and Justin had in one video.

So, every time A’TIN hit too close to the truth, he and Justin would have to do damage control to divert the attention away from them.

Even if it hurt to pretend they weren’t interested in each other.

* * *

**+1 - Moment of Truth**

They decided to release a Facebook Live about it. It allowed them the platform to share their thoughts, and even to take comments and questions that could be moderated. Justin and Josh could come out on their own terms, and not on anybody else’s.

But first, they had to tell their group mates first. They have been keeping their relationship under wraps for about four months now, and they decided it was time.

“Yeah, we know,” were the first words that came out of Ken’s mouth after they all sat in a circle and Justin and Josh bared their hearts out.

Josh stammered at that. “W-what?”

“We’ve known for awhile,” Sejun added with a grin. “You two...well, let me just say if someone were to look up the definition of  _ discreet  _ in the dictionary, they would not find a picture of you two.” 

“What gave us away?” Justin asked, and Ken hummed.

“Wait, let me think. It’s either the flirtatious glances you shared across any room, or the very obvious banging of your bed against the wall on some nights,” Ken pointed out, causing Josh to choke on his water. “Take your pick.” 

“I don’t know why you had to keep it a secret from us,” Stell asked them. “I mean, we’re your friends, we would’ve understood.”

“It’s not that we didn’t trust you,” Justin began. “But, what Josh and I have...well, it was new to the both of us. We wanted to make sure of each other before we told anyone else.”

Sejun nodded at that. “We understand, but next time, loop us in sooner, okay? We’re all here for each other, and that means trusting us with big news like this. Congratulations, by the way, on making it this long.”

“Yeah, dudes, we gotchu,” Ken told them with a grin. “So, when are you planning to tell A’TIN?”

Which leads them to their situation now. They figured it was best to have a Facebook Live with only Josh and Justin, and Ken, Sejun, and Stell were going to act as moral support from behind the camera.

They went live. Almost 10K people flooded the chat _immediately._ A lot of people were wondering why it was just the two of them, a significant amount were showing concern for the other three, and others were ecstatic at seeing them.

Never let it be said that A'TIN weren't dedicated. They were a force to be reckoned with. 

“Hi, A’TIN...Josh and I have big news to tell you,” Justin said, taking a deep breath. Below the camera, their hands interlaced, and they both soldiered on. 

“And we really hope we have your support on this,” Josh added.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Justin said after a slight pause. “A’TIN, we’d like to officially announce that Josh and I are dating.”

Twitter and all other social media sites had a minor breakdown that afternoon. It wasn't anything that was too difficult to fix, but it did cause quite a conundrum across all social media platforms. 

But, at the end of the day, as they were reading the tweets of support that flooded their timelines, Josh and Justin couldn’t help but smile.

> **@JnJ_Official**
> 
> **WBK @JoshCullen_s and @jah447798**
> 
> **Dejk pero congratumalations senyu! 🤧👨❤️👨 Mahal na mahal namin kayo, at salamat sa pag-tiwala sa amin.**
> 
> **@SB19Official #SB19** **  
>  ** **#JoshtinWBK**

* * *

  
  
  
  


**FIN**


End file.
